Summer Internship Experience At TATA Steel | HR SIP Story

The story started not very long before I called my mother on the most joyful day of my MBA life and said, "Maa, I got placed." I could literally feel the warmth of her very presence and hear a thousand emotions, although all she did was, take a deep breath and say nothing. After two failed attempts at CAT, finally, when I got my coveted IIM admit, this MBA for me was more than some placement figure. Leaving behind a comfortable IT job at the age of twenty-seven to live the MBA dream was a bittersweet bouquet of fear, apprehension, and excitement of what lay ahead. No sooner did I get over the feeling of finally studying at IIM Ranchi, we started our SIP preparation. From making CVs to refining them and making ourselves industry-ready with new courses and HR certifications, it was more of building a holistic management personality. I believe as far as SIP is concerned, more than the academic merit, firms look for people with creativity, an innovative thirst, an appetite for learning, and not to forget good communication skills. After all, what you think is only as good as how well you communicate it. Mock GDs, interviews conducted by our seniors, their constant guidance before every placement procedure, and a very systematically utilized peer learning finally bore fruit when I got placed at Tata Steel's HR Internship program. After a challenging GD round, in the interview, I was told about the three things they were looking for in a candidate during the GD:

1) Brevity
2) Clarity of thought
3) Humility
So, for GDs, I believe it is about speak and let others speak.

The interview was more about cases, applied questions on motivational/leadership theories, and very interestingly, a situational role play on a practical HR problem at a factory in Jamshedpur. Coming back, one of the most important things that drove me towards my MBA involved my dream of wearing suits to office accessorized with a perfectly tanned leather bag. So after an hour-long conversation with my mother, I told her to get the suits stitched up because it's time I started living my dreams. Little did we know at that time how our entire batch would miss out on the experiences of physically being inside a magnificent corporate framework. With the pandemic escalating at a rate faster than our sleep-deprived dark circles did in our IIMs and the internships of my confreres getting scrapped, I was feeling apprehensive about the turn of events that could follow. Eventually, to my delight, my project allocation mail arrived, and needless to say, my joining was to be conducted virtually due to COVID-19. A virtual internship comes with its own set of demands, especially when you are an HR intern. There were a lot of questions wearing out my mind. For example, 'Is it possible to put my emotional intelligence lessons into practice virtually?', and 'Given the huge spectrum of an HR's job description, how well can you function without getting to know your team in person?' However, my notions about virtual internships altered entirely on the twentieth of April when I had a seamless onboarding to Tata Steel's Virtual Internship program 'INSPIRE'20'. The Induction introduced me to the company's diverse culture, strong people policies, and some of the significant IR laws that are in legislation today but had their roots at Tata Steel over its 100+ years legacy. Soon, I was inducted to my project, which dealt with the critical people aspect of Mergers and Acquisitions of the Tata Steel Foundation (The CSR wing of Tata Steel). I had my virtual interactions with my Mentor and the team members, with whom I would spend my next two months enhancing my knowledge and enjoying the experience. I had limited knowledge of my project. I spent the first two weeks researching the project and started collecting all the background information required to proceed. I utilized this time to brush up Advanced Excel lessons (theory is good, but only when you put your learnings to practical applications, do you never forget them). I also took this opportunity to learn a few HR Analytics tools like Power Bi and R, keeping in mind to use them during my final presentation to provide some added analysis and recommendations. My seniors had often told me about the Fries with Burger concept. (When asked for a burger, try including some fries as well in your offering). What could amuse an intern more than seeing his work getting implemented directly in the company's operations, drawing the attention of senior leadership who appreciated and praised the work! All throughout, I was never treated like an intern but like any other team member with equal opportunity to participate in discussions, debates, and decisions. The experience, right from the constant touchpoints by the HR, to making sure we took breaks to follow our hobbies and do what we love, has been pragmatic. This most certainly tells us how this is the place to be. Being a storyteller and podcaster, I used my free time to publish my stories on my podcast channel and also shared them with the team and fellow interns. The warmth I received was endearing and homelike. Remote working today is said to cause people to miss out on the social aspect of co-working, often leading to loneliness, but my mentor made it a point to stay back after all the conference calls and constantly reminded me that social distancing did not mean social isolation and that we all were in this together. That's when I realized how T for Trust almost sounds analogues to T for Tata Steel. My mentor provided me with frequent feedback and never resisted to appreciate good work. The constructive feedback helped me learn, and the appreciations made me repeat desirable work, in line with the Positive Reinforcement Theory studied in OB HR. Although in virtual mode, the importance of team and synergies played a crucial role, and constant communication with all the stakeholders was the key. These remind me of the saying, 'What is needed is not well-balanced individuals, but individuals who balance well with each other'.   During the internship, I wrote two research papers and got them to proofread by my manager and senior. This brings me to my next point. It is high time you find a mentor (not just your internship manager) early on in your life. For me, it was my senior. It's always better to run through your ideas with someone before you put them into action. I am glad to have found mine early on in my MBA career. So to sum it up, such an internship experience in this VUCA scenario is undoubtedly a case in point when we talk about best employer practices. From trying to feel at home in our offices to bringing our offices home, this year has been as daunting an experience as adventurous. Though I did not get to wear a suit on my first day to the office, I got to wear a suit with shorts in all my video conferences. I did not get to bring my perfectly tanned leather bag, but I got to bring my pet to work every day. The last day of my eight-week internship did not involve a farewell cake, but it involved an overtly emotional e-mail acknowledging all the efforts my team put towards bridging the gap between the virtual and the real. In the process, I also got an invitation to visit Jamshedpur office to meet all, when all of this is over. Sometimes, we must be ready to accept the things that we want in forms that we did not imagine. What we always wanted may already be happening for us, but in ways different to the picture we had in mind. Great crisis brings great opportunities in disguise. COVID-19 has made the world unleash its potential and do things that were never thought of. Generations to come will scarce believe that a batch ever existed who have done their entire summer internship from home and yet amused their organizations with their exemplary performance!  

***